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SJU Joins Institute of International Education Coalition to Double Number of Students Who Study Abroad by End of Decade

Produced by:

the Office of Media Relations

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Queens, NY, May 21, 2014 – St. John’s University has pledged to join the Institute of International Education (IIE)’s Generation Study Abroad initiative to double the number of American students who study abroad by the end of the decade. The initiative is also focusing on increasing the diversity of the students who study abroad, ensuring quality, and removing barriers to participation. St. John’s University has committed to increasing the percentage of undergraduates who study abroad by 60% over the next five years.

Two months after the official launch of Generation Study Abroad, the Institute of International Education has announced significant progress in advancing the major goals of the initiative. IIE’s Generation Study Abroad initiative now has over 300 commitment partners -- double the number who had signed on by the March launch date. The 150 new partners who have committed to specific, actionable goals to increase the number of U.S. students studying abroad include colleges and universities of all sizes and types across the country, as well as study abroad organizations, foreign governments, and associations. Noteworthy commitments to action in this round include new scholarships and financial assistance to help students pay for study abroad, and new initiatives to reach out to underserved groups and increase the diversity of the student population that goes abroad.

“As a Vincentian University that is also among the most diverse in the U.S., St. John's values study abroad for all of its students — independent of socioeconomic status and academic concentration,” said Matthew Pucciarelli, Associate Vice President for Global Studies at St. John’s University. “We are therefore pleased to commit to IIE's "Generation Study Abroad" pledge to provide even more of our students with an opportunity to engage the world through academics, while changing it through service-learning in the spirit of our founding tradition.”

St. John’s drives to create new, innovative programs that encourage students to study, live and serve outside the U.S. Giving back to the community forms a central part of the academic experience and, through our Academic Service-Learning offerings, students work with international partners while fulfilling course-based experiential education requirements. St. John’s students hear the call with roughly 25% studying abroad, in over 25 destinations around the world. The University offers a wide variety of programs to suit any student’s needs, from a full semester at St. John’s Paris or Rome Campuses to winter intersession and summer opportunities in locations like Bermuda, China, or the Galápagos Islands and its unique Discover the World: Europe program which allows students to study in three different countries over the course of a semester. St. John’s believes that all students—graduate or undergraduate—should have an international experience to enrich their academic experience and broaden their career horizons.

“Globalization has changed the way the world works, and employers are increasingly looking for workers who have international skills and expertise,” says Dr. Allan Goodman, President of IIE. “Studying abroad must be viewed as an essential component of a college degree and critical to preparing future leaders.”

IIE is launching Generation Study Abroad because the number and proportion of today’s students who graduate with an educational experience abroad is far too low. Currently, fewer than 10 percent of all U.S. college students study abroad at some point in their academic career. According to the Open Doors Report on International and Educational Exchange released by IIE last November with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, 295,000 students studied abroad in 2011/12 in credit-bearing and non-credit programs. Generation Study Abroad aims to grow participation in study abroad so that the annual total reported will reach 600,000 by the end of the decade.

With 2.6 million students graduating with associates or baccalaureate degrees each year, it is clear that major segments of America’s young people are not getting the international experience they will need to advance their careers and participate in the global economy, or to work together across borders to address global issues. Commitment partners are working to ensure that students from all backgrounds and in all fields of study have the opportunity to gain this important experience.

Generation Study Abroad will engage educators at all levels and stakeholders in the public and private sectors to drive meaningful, innovative action to increase the number of U.S. students who have the opportunity to gain international experience through academic study abroad programs, as well as internships, service learning and non-credit educational experiences. Building on its nearly 100-year commitment to study abroad, IIE has committed $2 million of its own funds to this initiative over the next 5 years.

Having just returned from the 2017 OLC Accelerate Conference, one of the largest online learning conferences in the world, I would like to share some of my thoughts and experiences, and offer commentary on the state of online learning in higher education generally, and here at St. John’s University.